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Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie Robert Menzies, Arthur Fadden, John Curtin |
Monarch – George VI
Governor-General – Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Baron Gowrie
Prime Minister – Robert Menzies (until 28 August), then Arthur Fadden (until 7 October), then John Curtin
Premier of New South Wales – Alexander Mair (until 16 May), then William McKell
Premier of Queensland – William Forgan Smith
Premier of South Australia – Thomas Playford
Premier of Tasmania – Robert Cosgrove
Premier of Victoria – Albert Dunstan
Premier of Western Australia – John Willcock
Governor of New South Wales – John Loder, 2nd Baron Wakehurst
Governor of Queensland – Sir Leslie Orme Wilson
Governor of South Australia – Sir Malcolm Barclay-Harvey
Governor of Tasmania – Sir Ernest Clark
Governor of Victoria – Sir Winston Dugan
Governor of Western Australia – none appointed
25 March – The Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) is formed.
31 March – The Siege of Tobruk begins.
7 April – The Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) is formed.
10 May – A general election is held in New South Wales. The ALP led by William McKell defeats the incumbent United Australia Party and Premier Alexander Mair.
12 May – The Daily Mirror newspaper is first published in Sydney.
30 June – HMAS Waterhen sinks off Libya – the first Australian naval vessel lost in the war.
3 October – Prime Minister Arthur Fadden resigns following the rejection of his budget by two independent MPs.
7 October – John Curtin is sworn in as Prime Minister after Arthur Fadden's government loses majority support in the House of Representatives.
11 November – The Australian War Memorial is opened in Canberra.
19 November – The light cruiser HMAS Sydney engages the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran in an hour-long battle off the coast of Western Australia. Both ships are sunk, the Sydney going down with 645 crew.
9 December – Australia declares war on Japan, and the Axis powers of Finland, Hungary and Romania.
13 December – A general election is held in Tasmania. The Labor Party led by Robert Cosgrove is returned to power.
Arts and literature
William Dargie wins the Archibald Prize with his portrait of Sir James Elder, KBE
The Timeless Land by Eleanor Dark is published.
27 September – Melbourne wins the 45th VFL Premiership, defeating Essendon 19.13 (127) to 13.20 (98).
4 November – Skipton wins the Melbourne Cup.
Velocity wins the Caulfield Cup
Beau Vite wins the Cox Plate
The Sheffield Shield is not contested due to war
23 January – Jock R. Anderson, economist and academic
29 January – Maggie Kirkpatrick, actress
2 February – John Cornell, actor and producer
4 February – Russell Cooper, Premier of Queensland (1989)
11 March – Kim Santow, NSW Supreme Court judge
29 March – Michael Thornhill, film producer, screenwriter and film director
31 March – Faith Leech, swimmer
10 April – Wendy Fatin, politician
17 April – Bill Landeryou, politician
24 April – John Williams, classical guitarist
11 May – Ian Redpath, cricketer
18 May – Lobby Loyde, rock music guitarist (died 2007)
31 May – Julian Croft, poet
4 June – Kenneth G. Ross, playwright
24 June – Graham McKenzie, cricketer
28 June – Harry Quick, politician
31 July – Heather McKay, squash player
1 September – Graeme Langlands, rugby league footballer and coach of the 1960s and 1970s
22 September – Murray Bail, writer
27 September – Gay Kayler, country music singer
3 October – John Elliott, businessman
14 October – David Kemp, politician
16 October – Genevieve Lloyd, philosopher and feminist
25 October – Helen Reddy, singer
28 October – Fred Chaney, WA politician
7 November – Willi Sawall, race walker
16 November – Max Gillies, actor
13 December – Dixie Willis, middle distance runner
15 December – Richard Neville, writer (died 2016)
18 March – Harry Boan (born 1860), founder of Boans department store
1 April – John Chamberlain (born 1884), cricketer
5 April – Banjo Paterson (born 1864), bush poet, author and journalist
12 April – James Boyd (born 1867), politician
15 April – Emily Pelloe (born 1878), botanical illustrator
4 May – Chris McKivat (born 1879), rugby union and league player
8 May – Alexander Hay (born 1865), politician
15 June – John Lynch (born 1862), politician
24 June – Francis Anderson (born 1858), philosopher
1 July – Francis Birtles (born 1881), adventurer
7 July – Randolph Bedford (born 1868), writer and Queensland politician
27 July – James Ronald (born 1861), politician
31 July – Ron Barassi, Sr. (born 1913), Australian rules footballer
1 August – James Drake (born 1850), member of the first federal ministry
23 August – Jack O'Connor (born 1875), cricketer
30 August – Gregan McMahon (born 1874), actor and theatrical producer
31 August – Thomas Bavin (born 1874), Premier of New South Wales (1927–1930)
1 September – Millice Culpin (born 1846), politician
5 September – George Marchant (born 1857), soft drink manufacturer
1 October – John Longstaff (born 1861), artist
18 November – Chris Watson (born 1867), Prime Minister of Australia (1904)
19 November – Joseph Burnett (born 1899), captain of HMAS Sydney
1941 in Australia Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA
